What do you get when you cross U2, Peter Gabriel, Robert Wyatt, Midnight Oil, Yothu Yindi and thirteen others with a large dose of love in action? A bloody brilliant 20-track compilation album called 20 Years of Resistance to Genocide in East Timor.
Beautifully produced, with great care taken over the choice, variety and positioning of the songs, 20 Years . . . brings the listener from Gabriel s haunting Fourteen Black Paintings to U2 s Mothers of the Disappeared , via the Ginger Baker Trio s superb dub-poem, East Timor , and Lorena McKennitt s Breaking the Silence . Crossing a wide range of cultural styles, 20 Years. . . . Still pulls together to form an organic whole which informs and inspires as it entertains. Many of the twenty tracks relate specifically to East Timor, and the artists were chosen for their genuine concern and work towards ending the appalling genocide that goes on unabated in there today.
In 1975, this island nation was invaded by the Indonesian government, a fascist military regime. One in three East Timorese have died since then, as a direct result of Indonesia s invasion and illegal occupation. Though the Indonesian government are currently promising autonomy and even independence for the East Timorese, their violence towards the population has actually escalated. For example, on 5th April last, up to 60 East Timorese were killed when the Indonesian army and an Indonesian-armed militia jointly attacked a church. During Indonesia s twenty-four year occupation, the East Timorese have been the victims of massacre, induced famine, torture, rape and forced sterilisation. Over 250,000 people have been killed.
Yet still there is hope. Global support continues to grow for the East Timorese, and this CD compilation is a further step in what has become a worldwide human rights movement. 20 Years of Resistance to Genocide in East Timor was produced by activismusicians Aloz MacDonald and his partner Abe Barreto Soares, an East Timorese poet exiled in Canada. All professional fees and royalties have been waived by everyone involved with the album, from the artists and music publishers to the producers and designers. And when you spend your money on this little gem, you can guarantee that it s going to the excellent East Timorese Hope Foundation (ETHF). As well as providing food and healthcare for suffering people, ETHF works to preserve their indigenous culture and history, and to assist the many East Timorese refugees and exiles around the world.
20 Years of Resistance To Genocide in East Timor is released by Hands-Free Records, and is available at Virgin Records for the bargain price of #10 for the CD and #5 for the tape. Or order it through the web: http://www.web.net/-hands. n
/ Contact East Timor Ireland Solidarity Campaign at Suite 16, 3rd Floor, Dame House, 24-26 Dame St., Dublin 2. Tel: (01) 671 9207. E-mail: [email protected]